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Freeing Thoughts

"...we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."  2 Corinthians 10:5b

This verse is one I've tried to "hide in my heart" as a Christ-follower.  It's no secret that it is far harder to follow Jesus with one's thoughts than one's actions...although the latter can be quite difficult too.  The phrase "take captive every thought" has helped me redirect my mind many times.  Sometimes 5 seconds later I have to redirect it again.

Of course there are obvious thought patterns that need to be redirected.  If we stop for 2 seconds to reflect most of us can recognize a sinful string of mind wanderings.  But this verse has also been helpful to me in capturing more subtle but just as damaging thoughts.  The ones that cause you to beat yourself up.  The ones that knock the wind out of your soul.  When I stop to take these thoughts captive, God replaces them with thoughts like these...

"A month from now this won't matter anymore.  Maybe even a week from now.  It doesn't deserve any more mental energy.  Let it go."

"All you need to be able to say at the end of the day is that you did the best that you could do to please God with that day."

"God is very fond of you.  He loves you.  He has already accepted you.  There's nothing you need to earn."

"Your hope isn't in whatever went wrong today.  You have a hope that nothing can alter."

And a new one God's given me lately...  "It is OK if not everyone likes you."

These are some of my "go to" thoughts.  They help me take captive thoughts that spiral to darker places and lead me into open and wide spaces where I feel free.  Maybe you need to borrow some of them for yourself?  Feel free.

Bowling

Several of you have asked me how the holiday bowling was that I forecasted in my last post.  Here's some bowling goodness for you.  It was splendid.

A Phone Conversation

Joe (5 years old):  Hi, Aunt Tammy.

Me: Hi, Joe.

Joe: What are you doing?

Me: I'm driving home.  I just went to the eye doctor.

Joe: Yes, and how are they?

Me: My eyes?  My eyes are fine.

Joe: You are coming home for Thanksgiving soon.

Me: Yes, Joe, and I can't wait to see you and spend time with you.

Joe:  Remember that time when you did something special with Andrew on one day and then you did something special with me on another day.  Remember when we did that special time.

Me: Yes, I remember.

Joe: We should do that time again.  We should do that time when you do something with me and then something with Andrew.

Me:  I would love to spend time with you.  What do you want to do?

Joe:  We could go bowling.

I can't wait to go home for Thanksgiving.  I'm going bowling.

Fantasy Football

Spent the weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee visiting my friend Mark and Monica Nelson.  It's the first time I made it down there to see the church they planted, Crossings.  To read more about Crossings, check out my Multi-Site Kids blog.

But this post is about Fantasy Football!  Mark and I may have discovered the best way to keep track of your Fantasy Football team during the Sunday afternoon games.  He was setting up the projector for a film he was going to show to their small group that evening when we came upon this beautiful realization.  If only the TV wasn't so small it would have been just like watching at Buffalo Wild Wings!

Eye Doctor

So I went to the eye doctor today...for the first time in 15 years.  I know, I know.  There are lots of non-symptomatic things that can be wrong with your eyes so you're supposed to have them checked every 1 or 2 years.  It just happened to take me 15 years to get around to it, but today I did.

And my eyes are still fine.

But what was crazy was getting my eyes dialated.  I asked the doctor, "I'm here by myself, will I be able to see fine to drive home?"  He assured me that I would and said, "You probably will just have some trouble reading for the next few hours."  Oh. My. Goodness.  For 2 hours this afternoon I experienced what all you poor souls who have contact lenses understand all too well.  I think the blobs I saw on Route 59 were cars.  I did my best not to hit any of them.  "Trouble reading" meant I wouldn't be able to make out anything in word form unless it was 2 inches tall.  I actually stopped on the way home because I really needed some things from the store.  I had to ask the cashier to help me with the debit card machine because I couldn't operate it.  She said, "I hope when you get home you actually bought the right things."

The funniest thing was an hour after getting the drops in my eyes I was starting to be able to make out the shapes of words.  My friend Kim is expecting a baby at any minute and I could tell I had an e-mail from her but I couldn't make out any of the words in the body of the message.  Thankfully I found the shape of her name in my recent calls on my Blackberry and was able to call her.  No baby yet.  But I gave Kim a good laugh.

Moral of the story... Either take someone with you to the eye doctor or just skip it for the next 15 years.